At the onset of the pandemic, Jared Hartzell of Addo Global sat on his back porch and tried to think of what was next. As an entrepreneur working for himself for the past decade, he’d been in that spot before. But at that moment, there was the coronavirus hampering potential business prospects.
“What do I do next — like, in this world?” Hartzell remembers thinking. That motivation led him to solidify his business partnership with Oliver Lollis, who had started a version of Addo Global several years ago.
The duo had planned to work together to start a nonprofit addressing the high suicide rates in physicians. They shifted to what physicians also needed: personal protective equipment and other health care products to combat the raging COVID-19 pandemic.
“Oliver and I were like, hey, let’s call around to our constituents and people that we connect with and let’s find out where the biggest needs are,” Hartzell says.
“When we were talking to the doctors as well, they [said], ‘Well, we need gowns. We need gloves. We need masks. We need face shields,’” Lollis says.
Now, Addo Global helps make the connections between buyers and sellers, narrowing the various actors involved and streamlining the purchasing process.
Lollis has been in the health care industry for years. His grandfather had owned nursing homes, and so had his father before his father shifted to running a medical supply company. While Lollis has made inroads with connecting with producers, Hartzell comes from the development and marketing side of business. They both say they complement each other’s skill set.
So far, the company has had more than $3 million in sales over the past few months, according to Hartzell.
‘Our goal was always [that] we can help anybody and we just say, “Hey, what do you need help with? What are your pain points? Let’s talk about it,’” says Lollis, emphasizing that Addo is Latin for “add to,” which is part of their mission.
Next, Addo Global wants to expand into their own PPE line for dental offices, which, according to Lollis and Hartzell, don’t often have access to PPE in the same way larger medical facilities do. They are also in the underwriting stage of developing their own manufacturing facility in the area.
Addo Global may also expand its consultancy services. That includes “to help other groups maximize their capabilities,” says Hartzell. “If it’s a manufacturing facility that has terrible marketing, we can go in and recognize that.”
Right now though, they’re still working through the pandemic and what their clients are needing.
“If we can do it, we will. If we can’t, we’ll tell you,” Lollis says.
